In mathematics, a binary relationR on a setX is antisymmetric if there is no pair of distinct elements of X each of which is related by R to the other. More formally, R is antisymmetric precisely if for all a and b in X

if R(a,b) and R(b,a), then a = b,

or, equivalently,

if R(a,b) with a ≠ b, then R(b,a) must not hold.

As a simple example, the divisibility order on the natural numbers is an antisymmetric relation. And what antisymmetry means here is that the only way each of two numbers can be divisible by the other is if the two are, in fact, the same number; equivalently, if n and m are distinct and n is a factor of m, then m cannot be a factor of n.

The usual order relation ≤ on the real numbers is antisymmetric: if for two real numbers x and y both inequalitiesx ≤ y and y ≤ x hold then x and y must be equal. Similarly, the subset order ⊆ on the subsets of any given set is antisymmetric: given two sets A and B, if every element in A also is in B and every element in B is also in A, then A and B must contain all the same elements and therefore be equal: